The Wilds
by popcornsutton
Summary: Ruby Rose was looking for someone, anyone, to get her out of the town she lives in, and a travailing merchant names Jaune Arc is just the person to do it. If she can survive the strange world out side her home town, her and Jaune's dreams may just come true. Yeah, good luck, with that.


Ruby Rose hated it here.

Okay, maybe hate was a strong word.

Bored was a better one.

A pair of silver eyes reviled themselves from behind tired eyelids before snapping shut as the sun began its morning siege. The young woman sat up with all the speed of a dying slug before slipping off the top bunk of the bunkbed and to the wooden floor below.

Ruby blinked as she stretched, arms raised in the air as her back arched till her vertebra gave serval pops of relief. With the first hurdle of the day done, she looked around her room, taking in the sight of nothing in particular before looking at the bottom bunk, sheets made and clean. It looked as if no one had slept in it for years.

And indeed, no one had.

Bad thoughts, it was too early for bad thoughts.

The Reaper shook her head clear as she made her way out of her room and down the hall to the only bathroom on the second floor, making sure to grab a pair of clothes as she went.

The hall was filled with pictures, each with a face, and each with a story. Ruby's eyes lazed across the pictures as she went. At first, there were always so many faces, so many smiles, but as she made her way closer to the bathroom and the pictures became more recent, some faces disappeared.

Ruby came to a stop as she reached the bathroom, looking at a picture from last New Years. Just two people were in it, both smiling, even if they were slightly forced.

She broke her gaze away from the picture as a rather, unpleasant smell floated by. Ruby rolled her eyes as she threw her clothes into the bathroom before making her way to the stair, a small smile ghosting across her face.

The 20-year-old let out a staggered yawn as she shrugged off the thoughts of the pictures and made her way down the creaking stairs of her mostly empty family home, the bitter morning air nipping at her feet as she trudged into the kitchen. It was occupied by one person, like always, who was burning the food.

Like always.

"Daaaad, what are you doing? You know you can't cook!" Ruby said as she sped over to her father, snatching the burning pan from him and throwing it in the sink that was already filled with dirty dishes. The pan landed on top of the mountain of filth that neither father nor daughter dared to tackle head on.

"Oh come on, Ruby, your dear totally not old dad an't that bad at cooking, I can handle an omelet. I've kept you alive so far, haven't I?" Ruby's father, Taiyang, said with a pout as he and Ruby looked over at the still smoldering pan.

Of course, as luck would have it, Taiyang would eat his words, and fortunately not his food, as the two residents of the house stepped even closer to the sink. In the middle of the still hot pan sat a charred lump of _something_ that Taiyang had dared refer to as food. The lump seemed to quiver under its own weight before a purple liquid began to seep out from under it as the so-called omelet started to wither away in much the same manner as a Grimm.

The two stared at the pan and its wonders of horror before Ruby turned her silver gaze on her father, a single eyebrow raised as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's, um, jelly filled?" was Taiyang's only reply as the short girl in front of him sighed, dropping her arms as she walked over to the fridge to see what it contend.

Apparently, not much.

One egg, some expired milk and something that looked to be bread that may or may not have just moved a little…

Yeah, they need to go shopping.

Ruby hummed as she closed the fridge. It wasn't as if they did have money to buy food, they just never made any time to go to the town market. Between Ruby's training and Grimm hunting, and Taiyang's… whatever he did all day, neither of them ever seemed to make it to the market before the merchants closed for the day.

Anyway, it's not like Ruby could have done better than her dad at cooking, the only thing that she could make were cookies, and Taiyang refused to let her make them for every meal.

Jerk.

The girl turned to look at her dad as he began to back away from the sink as there breakfast finish dissolving.

Same old dad, same old burnt food, same old empty house.

She was tired of it.

"Dad, when will you let me go off and be a hunter, a real, guild certified hunter?"

The man's eyes snapped to Ruby as he took a breath. "Ruby, we've talked about this. You can leave when someone from town heads out to one of the cities, as long as there willing to travel there with you." Taiyang responded as he shifted to lean agents the wood counter, arms on either side of him for support.

"But no one ever goes to any of the cities!" Ruby cried out, "The farthest anyone ever goes is to hunt deer or Grimm…"

"Look, I know you want to leave, but you're all I got left, kid. I don't want you running off by yourself like Yang did. Just, wait a little long, yeah? As soon as you find someone going to a city, I'll let you go, promise."

"Fine," Ruby replied with a pout after several tense seconds before turning on her heel and heading out of the kitchen and to the stairs that lead to the bathroom.

"I'm going to the market later, do you need anything dad?"

"Mmmmm, oh! Some more grape jelly, we're all out!" the man yelled as his daughter diapered around the corner and up the stairs.

 _Stupid dad, stupid people never going to cities, stupid jelly filled omelet…_

Ruby sighed as she finally made it to the bathroom and shut the door, leaning against it as she closed her eyes. Why'd thing have to be so difficult? She just wanted to be a hunter, a real hunter. She wanted to protect people, to go to new places and make friends. Just like her mom and dad did.

Just like Yang was.

Ruby pushed off the door as she started her morning ritual: shower, oral hygiene, dress, clean badass High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe.

After all was said and done, Ruby made her way out of her house and to the small training ground that her family used to frequent just outside of town. Training ground may have been a strong word for it. It was a clearing made it the forest, the grass and trees kept at bay constant use from Ruby.

It was time to get to work.

Jaune Arc had visited many cities in his short 22 years of life. From the sprawling capital of Vale to some of the most remote outpost in all of Remnant, all with a single goal in mind, to sell mediocre goods at marked up prices.

Okay, yeah, that didn't sound as good as he'd hoped.

But the young man now found himself in the small town of… somewhere. The town was so unimportant that it hadn't even been on the map, he had only stumbled across it by chance as he looked for a shortcut across the mountains that didn't take a week just to reach.

After having a quick chat with the guards, Jaune learned the name of the small town. Town. Yup, that was its name. Town. It had apparently been an outpost from The River Wars that had evolved into a town after the war was over. A new name for the town was to be drawn from a hat since no one could decide. Therefore, The Town of Town was born.

Whose smart idea was that anyway?

While Jaune had to admit that Town seemed a little dull and, inadequately named, it certainly did have some charm to it. A nice tall wall to keep the Grimm out, friendly guards that didn't charge an entrance fee, trees and stuff….

Okay, it was as dull as a mound of shit. But still, at least it had an open market.

Jaune felt the nervousness ease from him as he finished transforming his wagon into its mobile store form. The side hatch on the wagon was lowered, not only allowing people to see him and his merchandise but also to act as a counter to help advertise his good.

To top things off, he had even found a suitable stable for Neph and Ele so that they'd be out of the way. Sure, the stable master had been a real asshole and made things difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as selling jerky when a draft animal was grunting and shitting right next to you.

Jaune sighed in content as he leaned agents the counter of his wagon, watching with surprise as the small market square he had set up in soon became crowded with people. As the more permanent shops in the square began to open for the day, he couldn't help but notice that is wagon stood out like a sore thumb.

Perfect.

While most shops had plane wood storefronts with a glass window to display their merchandise, Jaune's wagon was colored a dull blue and orange. The large rug he had placed in front of it was an eye-catching design of green and pink that claimed its origins from a far off land. Small jars of sweets and other cheap items graced his storefront while more expensive items sat on shelves behind him.

Jaune smiled as a small boy and his mother walked up to him, said child beaming with barely retained excitement as he looked at dozens of bottles containing sweets.

"Well hey there little guy, see anything you like?" Jaune asked as he looked down at the boy who's head didn't even reach the top of the counter. Not that that was odd. The Wagon was 26 feet long, 12 feet high (wheel included, that you very much) and 6 feet wide. Which made the sweets under the counter on collapsing shelves just the right leave for kids.

The young boy looked from the jars of sweets to Jaune, then back to the jars before turning to his mother with pleading eyes. The older woman simply smiled before pulling a single lien from her deerskin purse and handing it to the boy.

"I want candy!" the boy shouted before falling quiet as his mother's tapping his shoulder. The boy's eyes widened as he spoke again. "Oh, um, I want candy, please." He asked in a quieter voice this time.

"Sure thing. Four pieces of candy for one lien. Just pick the four pieces from the jar in front of you."

A small hand shot up to deposit the single lien on the counter before disappearing. Jaune picked up the lien as he heard the clink of tongs and glass as the kid started to make his choice.

Jaune couldn't help but groan as he reached to the side to deposit the lien in a thin metal box. After the lien had been placed in the box, he reached for his side, feeling the sloppy bandage work that he had done yesterday. The Grimm had found his camp that night, and while he had managed to defend himself against some of the Beowolf while Neph and Ele killed them, one managed to get past his rather crude defense.

The wilds seemed to be crawling with more and more Grimm every day.

As the pain subsided with a blast of aura and the clinking of metal and glass continued, Jaune reached up to a shelf right above the opening as he turned towered the boy's mother.

"Ummm, excuse me, you wouldn't happen to know of any hunter around here, would you? I, kind of need to hire one with all the, you know, Grimm around and stuff."

"I'm sorry," the women replied with an expression that showed she truly was, "all of the hunters in town are retired, not one of them's taken a job in years."

"What about Ruby, Mom?" came the voice of the boy who now held four pieces of candy in his hand. Both Jaune and the boy's mother looked at him as Jaune brought his arm down from the shelf above him and to the counter.

"I completely forgot about little Ruby," the woman said, looking back at Jaune, "Ruby's a hunter, not officially, of course, there aren't any guild for day's around, but she's trained since a young age. Why, all of the old hunters in town say she's a prodigy."

"Wow, that's great," Jaune replied as he turned to the boy and held out his hand. "Thanks for the help, you may have just found me a hunter, and you used the tongs without me asking."

The boy's eye went wide as he looked at Jaune's know open hand. In it laid a single piece of chocolate.

"Thanks!" came the boy's shout joy as he snatched the chocolate from Jaune's hand, shoving it into his mouth without a second thought.

The boy's mother smiled at Jaune as she began to lead her son away. "Ruby wears a black blouse and red cloak. Keep a look out for her, she normally cuts through the marketplace this time of the week."

Jaune nodded as they bid farewell. Resting his weight on the counter, the Arc boy smiled, not only did he manage to get a lead on a possible hunter for hire, but also a little bit of advertisement of how nice he was for giving the chocolate for free.

He'd need to get more supplies if he was going to have another person traveling with him. More dried meat, more salt and more fruit. It wouldn't be hard, he could see vendors selling just what he needed across the square. With his mental shopping list in mind, Jaune just needed to find the huntress.

Before anything else could happen, Jaune noticed a flash of red and black make its way it to the square. No way he was this lucky. He squashed the nervous bubbles in his stomach, it may not have been a purchase or a sell, but it was still a proposal, he had this. He could total talk to this girl and not make a fool of himself.

Maybe.

Ruby looked up at the noon sun as she made her way through the town market. The forest was always cold, no matter the time of year or day, and while she enjoyed it for a short time, it was nice to be out in the shining sun again. She could feel its rays soaking into her clothes and warming her up. She looked around the market square, taking in the sights and sounds.

The same why she did every week.

The uneven cobblestone she once saw as a puzzle with no pattern now seemed almost hypnotic with the pattern she couldn't stop seeing. The towering wooden wall that had once made her feel safe no longer looked so tall nor made her feel so safe.

They were suffocating.

The same people, the same wall, the same dog poop in the same place. Man, Mr. Wilson was going to be pissed.

It wasn't till Ruby was in the middle of the market did she see something that was different. A large wagon, cart… thing.

The colors demanded attention compared to the shops around it, the small row of jars near the ground and other knickknacks that hung from the wagon itself. She looked on in confusion as the sign on the side of the wagon simply read _Shop_. The biggest thing that drew her eye though was the blond man waving her toward him from a window in the wagon.

Ruby shrugged as she walked over to the young man who see didn't recognize. She still needed to buy jelly anyway, maybe he had some.

As she got closer her eyes were drawn to his clothes, while she could only see that he wore a black hoodie with orange, it was the design in the hoodie that drew her attention the most.

A perfectly round face with equally perfectly round eyes that were a shade of gray. Instead of a mouth, there was a large gray mustache.

It was just, odd.

"Hey there, names Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. Merchants love it."

The silence that followed would have gone down in legend if anyone else had been there to see it. Ruby simply stared back at Jaune as sweat beaded down his forehead.

"D-Do they?"

"Well, I mean, some of them, yeah…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Are you, umm, Ruby?" the Jaune finally asked.

Ruby smiled as she looked into the merchant's blue eyes. "You bet I am. What can I do for ya?"

"Well, I heard that you might be willing to take on a job as a hunter. I need to go to Ragdor and while I normally don't need help going through the wilds to a city, with the war going on and all the negativity in Vale, the Grimm population has been giving me trouble lately."

"W- what?" There's no way this was finally happening.

"I know it's a bit upfront to ask, because, you know, you're not an official hunter and stuff, but I'm still willing to pay you 50 lien day and cover all supply cost like food, ammo and such. I know 50 lien's not a lot for a hunter but, I mean, you're not a guild certified hunter, not that there's anything wrong with that." Jaune rushed as he tried to smile, watching the girl's wide-eyed exasperation.

Yeah, insult the person who you need to protect you, nice one, Arc.

Ruby stared at Jaune as her stomach did a somersault. Her? Finally leaving town, for a city?

"Oh my oum yes yes yes!" Ruby cheered as she grabbed Jaune's shoulders and shook him in excitement. "I'll be right back, wait here!"

And like that Ruby was off, leaving Jaune staring as rose petals drifted down where the girl used to be standing.

The speeding girl made her way through town as a blur, this was it, this was the chance she had been waiting for. She didn't care if she didn't know Jaune, he reminded her of herself.

Awkward, as Yang would put it.

She was done waiting. Done waiting for her father to change his mind and let her end her promise to him. Done waiting for Yang or Qrow to come back.

Done waiting to start her dreams.

Like a cannon ball, she burst through the door to her home and bolted up the stairs and to her room. With all the fever of a five-year-old on charismas, she tore open her closet, throwing dirty clothes and old posters to the side as her prize was revealed. A Beowolf shaped backpack with all the supplies a hunter on the road would need. Clothes, ammo, weapon parts as well as rations and a first aid kit, just to name a few things.

Grabbing the backpack and slinging it over her shoulder, Ruby speed around, taking a single step forward before crashing into a wall of muscle called Taiyang. Looking up, she saw her father staring down at her with a single eyebrow raised.

"And where are you going, exactly?"

Ruby smiled as her eyes lit up. "I got a Job as a hunter!" she squealed, jumping up and down in place. "I'm escorting a merchant named Jaune Arc to Ragdor! There'll be Grimm and walking and cities and more Grimm, and it's going to be great!"

The two stood in silence as Taiyang's mind derailed off the tracks and plowed through the town called His Heart before exploding, destroying _The University of You're A Dad So Act Like It_ and the bar _You Won't Die Alone_.

Taiyang continued to stare down at his daughter as she wore a smile that threatened to split her face in half. She looked so much like her mother, a spitting image of the women he loved. And just like her, Ruby was determined to fulfill her dream. He made her promise, and she kept that promise.

Fuck.

With a sigh that betrayed his age, he scooped the young huntress to be into his arms as he rested his head on top of hers. "A promise is a promise, kid. I said you could go if you got a job to a city and you did. Just please promise me you'll be as safe as you can. Don't spend all that emergency money I gave ya in that bag at one, and don't eat cookies every chance you get, there's reason you're not as tall as everyone else and before you say it, no, milk doesn't counteract cookies as nourishment."

The small reaper looked up at her dad as tears formed in her eyes before she blinked them away. "I love you, dad."

"I love you too Ruby. Now get going, don't want to keep your employer waiting, Yeah?"

"Yeah" and just like that, in a bloom of petals, she was gone.

Taiyang stood stock still for a moment before leaving the room that once held the two most precious things in the world to him before he made his way down the satire and to the kitchen to stare out the window at the daughter he knew he wouldn't see for a long time to come. Of course, she was long gone by the time he got there, but that was fine. She was always eager.

An Arc that was a merchant, huh? At least he knew she would be with someone that wouldn't try and pull something. There was only one person that fit that position and Taiyang remember hearing only good things from the kid's boss. He had a good head on his shoulders.

And if he didn't, the Taiyang would just have to take it off.

The last person left in the house turned around as he took in the empty room that was still so full of memories. He could still see the figure in the white cloak baking with two little girls, even if none of them were still here.

"You'd be so proud of her."

"I'm back!" Ruby cheered as she walked up to Jaune who was looked to be closing up shop, locking the wooden counter back up over the window.

"Great," Jaune replied as he started walking down the road, beckoning Ruby to follow him with a wave of his hand. "I know it's past noon, but I want to head out of town now, actually. No offense but after the morning rush, the markets kind of dead and I really want to get back to Ragdor as soon as possible."

"No worries, it's one reason I wanted to go with you, the towns a little, slow, ya know?"

Jaune chuckled as they made their way down the street, Jaune looking from the girl to the stables at the end of the road. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

"So," Jaune stared as he looked back at the girl, "What type of weapon do you use, oh mighty hunter?"

The Huntress smiled as she reached into her red cloak and pulled out a rectangular shape, at the flick of her wrist, transformed into a red and black scythe.

"This is Crescent Rose. It's a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe, pretty cool, huh?"

Some say Jaune's eyes grew three sizes that day.

"Wow that's a big weapon for such a small - never mind."

"Soooo, you said you used to handle the Grimm, what kind of weapon do you have? Oh oh, I bet it's a minigun that shoots lien or something because you a merchant, right? No, that's stupid… Oh! Maybe you use a bat made of the bones of people who tried to steal from you. Yeah, that's so cool!"

"Umm, not - not really, I have this." The blond merchant said as he pulled out a sheath from his belt, holding it in front of him as it seemed to glow in the sun. The white of the sheath itself spoke of history and the unspoken horrors of war, like that of an old warrior that refused to leave the battlefield.

"Uh, Jaune, there no sword in the sheath…"

"Yeah, I know… I kind of don't have the sword part of Crocea Mors, my twin sister has it and its been years since I've seen her." Silence. "But it can do this."

With the press of a button, the duller half of Crocea Mors appeared to unfold from a sheath to a shield.

"Cool!" Ruby said as she looked the shield over, noticing the simple yet hardy design. "You can kill Grimm with just a shield? Are you sure you need me?"

Jaune chuckled again as they drew closer to the stables. "Well, I've been able to kill a Grimm here and there with it, but mostly I need Ele and Neph to kill them for me, and from the last couple of fights we've had, I don't think they'll be enough anymore."

"Oh, so you already have hunters helping you?" the girl asked as they stopped outside the stables.

"Well, I definitely wouldn't call them hunters," Jaune replied as opened the sliding door to one of the enclosed stable, stepping inside with Ruby fallowing after.

"How are my boys doing? Good?" Jaune cooed as we walked further in, leaving behind a flabbergasted Ruby. "This is Ruby, she's coming with use to keep me from being eaten, cool huh?"

Ruby looked the two beasts in the stall up and down, her mind grasping at the… whatever they were. The body looked like one of the Bisons she'd seen in a picture book her mom had once read to her. Skinny legs became powerful thighs and massive body that's front half was covered in thick gray fur that didn't quite reach their back. The tail that swung behind it seemed to end in a large monkey hand that looked like it could wrap around her waist with ease.

As Ruby's eyes continued to follow the beast's body to its head, she changed her mind. Not a monkey hand.

A Gorilla.

Where the head and neck should have been, there was instead a gray barreled chest stacked with muscles. Wide shoulder attached to long, powerful arms that rested but three feet from the ground. A thick neck was attached to the large head of a gorilla with yellow eyes and teeth. On top of its head were two upward pointing horns that looked almost comically small compared to the rest of its body.

They were some sort of bison, gorilla, centaur…. things

So cool!

The two beasts looked down at her before stepping towards the young women as Ruby looked up in wonder. They were massive, easily towering over her and Jaune as the musky odder that seemed to cling to them grew stronger. The ground rumble ever so slightly as the two made the last few steps toward her.

Now staring her down from not three feet away, Jaune came forward to stand next to Ruby as he spoke.

"Just put your hand out for them to smell, they just want to know your smell better, that's all."

Ruby held out her hand as the beasts bent at the waist to smell the offered appendage. Their breath was hot that it made the Huntress giggle as a soft nose touched her hand. One of the beasts pulled back as one of its massive hands came up to run a finger down her arm, as if touching a baby. It was the other one that made Ruby pout though as it simply huffed at her before going back to look at Jaune.

"These two are my trusty companions, Neph and Ele. There about as smart and as loyal as a fox taking a forging class at a top-tier guild that accepts foxes, and they haven't let me down yet." Jaune said as he tugged on a rope attached to a harness that Neph and Ele wore, signaling for the two of them to follow him, which they did with serval grunts.

Ruby watched as the three exited the stables before rushing after them.

Foxes, what kind of guild offered that?

Ruby shook her head for the second time that day while she walked silently behind the trio as they made their way out of the stable and back up the street to the wagon. Ruby watched as Ele _or was it Neph?_ combed through Jaune's hair before grunting in disproval at the lack of finding anything to eat as it groomed. The other one almost looked like a bodyguard as it had its arms crossed, looking around the town for any threats to its master… before it started to pick its nose and eat whatever it happened to find, making the other rumble in frustration as it redoubled its search for a snake in Jaune's hair.

 _Sooooo coooool!_

"I know it's late in the day Ruby, but I sort of want to head out. There aren't any places to stay overnight in. Well, that and the stable master didn't seem too thrilled about Ele and Neph."

In the time it would take for Neph and Ele to be hooked up to the wagon and ready to go, Ruby put the time somewhere around six. On one hand, they wouldn't go far from the town before they had to stop for the night. On the other hand, they wouldn't _be_ in the town if they left right now.

The choice was easy for Ruby.

"Alright." Jaune side as he and Ruby sat at the front of the wagon, the reins to Neph and Ele firmly in his grip. "Let's get going, there's a place close to here we can camp out at."

As the wagon began to make its way towards the gates of the town, Ruby felt her shoulders ease. She'd called this walled in town home for 20 years, and while it still was home, for years now, its felt empty. Now, though, she was leaving this empty home, going out into the world.

Ruby leaned back against the wagon as a smile crossed her face. Final, her dreams could come true. She'd go do everything she'd dreamt of.

As they passed through the gate, the guards not bothering to even look at them, Ruby couldn't help but feel something akin to disappointment. There was no one waving goodbye. No one to see her off. No one-

"Stay safe sweetie! Daddy loves you!"

Taiyang, right. Of course, her dad would be here.

Yeah…

To Ruby's relief, Jaune seemed to be just as embarrassed as her as he speed up the pace. Soon, they were well away from Town, speeding along the simple dirt trail as the wagon jumped and swayed with the motion of the road. The girl stared at the greenery as it went by.

It was weird for her to go at this speed. It was faster than when she would sprint but not nearly as fast as when she used her Semblance. The two beast, who's species she still didn't know seemed to keep the pace with no problem.

Was it bad she never asked what Neph and Ele were? It was too late to ask now. Was it? Maybe she should ask, it's not like Jaune would get angry or anything, right?

"Ruby"

Maybe he would be mad? He did seem to really like them.

"Ruby"

What if he fired her?

"Ruby…"

And she had to go home and live with her dad forever and die alone!

"Ruby!"

"What! What are they?!"

"They?"

Ruby slowly turned to Jaune as she realized that the wagon was no longer moving. She lowered her finger which had been pointing, rather rudely in fact, at Neph and Ele.

"W-well, it's just, um, Ele and Neph, what, what are why?"

"I have no idea."

"…"

What?

The young reaper stared at Jaune as he shrugged.

"I got them from a retired curies clown that worked for the Grimm Brothers Traveling Curies, they hatched from eggs if you can believe that. He sold them to me for a bottle of wine. To be fair to the clown, I thought they were giant chicken eggs…"

"…"

"You don't know which ones which, do you?"

Ruby smiled as she shrugged, "Nope!"

Jaune smiled back as he hopped off the wagon, "Well, Neph," Jaune said as he pointed to the one on the left, "is missing a part of his horn and a finger from when he and Ele got into a fight some years ago. Ele's has always been stronger."

As Ruby joins him on the side of the wagon, she saw the Neph was indeed missing some of his body parts. Looking at the two beasts again, it was hard to imagine they'd came from an egg, or that a clown had once owned said eggs.

And to think, she'd spent her whole life in Town instead of raising horse gorillas from eggs.

Jaune walked back to the wagon as Ruby looked around for the first time since they'd stopped. She couldn't see the road from the clearing she now found herself in.

"How much farther are we going?" Ruby asked as she followed Jaune to the back of the wagon, running her hand along the chipped wood as she went.

"Actually, we're going to stop here and set up camp. I know we didn't go far, but Ele and Neph have horrible night vision and can get panicked and more aggressive at night, so I don't like to push them if I don't have to."

Dealing with aggressive horse gorillas from eggs or not... Yup, time to set up camp indeed.

Taiyang stood in his kitchen, lording over the recently decimated, burnt body of what was once normal bread that had somehow turned into sentient bread after serval months in the fridge. The butter was already spread, and now the only thing left to do to complete the gourmet meal fit for a retired hunter such as himself was to slatheron some of that sweet, sweet grape jelly.

Now just to reach over and grab the jar of jelly that was right- not there…

What?

Taiyang stared at the empty counter space where all the jelly that had ever graced the Xiao Long household lived. It should be there, right there, where it always was. Hell, Ruby had picked up a fresh jar earlier that day to replace-

Ruby…

The daughter that was no longer there was going to replace the jar.

He'd smelled the jelly on her, she'd bought a new jar of jelly.

That was no longer here…

Because it was with his daughters.

Who was no longer here…

"Why must you take everything I love from me?! WHY!"

"Woof!"

Taiyang looked down at his feet, seeing Zwei, the small corgi sitting on his back paws, looking up at him with eyes that sparkled with love and understanding. His tiny front legs wiggled in the air as Taiyang remembered the years they'd spent together. The lazy days spent laying around the house, the brutal winters also spent laying around the house.

"Everything I love!"

Taiyang was pretty sure dogs couldn't glare, but Zwei was sure doing a convincing job of proving him otherwise.


End file.
